From the bloody plains of Angola to the jungles of Colombia, David Tomkins' career as a safe-breaker, arms dealer and mercenary spans five decades. A permanent fixture on the watch lists of intelligence agencies across the world, including the CIA and Interpol, he has served prison sentences on both sides of the Atlantic, most recently for conspiring to kill Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar.

Dirty Combatis a no-holds-barred account of Tomkins' life, candidly told in his own words. Born in London during the Second World War, he was hospitalised for a time in a psychiatric ward and sent to reform school after he was deemed 'beyond parental control'. Later, following a spell in the Merchant Navy, he graduated from safe-blower to demolitions expert with a notorious mercenary army in Angola. From intrigue in Mayfair offices to the wild Tribal Areas of Pakistan, from guerrilla training camps in South America to solitary confinement in a US jail, Tomkins lets us in on the secrets of his life as a soldier of fortune.

Tomkins' story reads like a real-life version of a Tom Clancy thriller. It is a shocking account of crime and corruption, and the scope of his activities will amaze and intrigue.